"They call them 'kidney stones.' Imagine trying to swallow and digest a running chainsaw...everday...for a couple of weeks."
Anonymous
O the joys you bring me,
You who are measured
In mere millimeters.
They call you kidney stones
But I’ve come to believe
You must be
Kidney boulders!
I can feel you,
So exquisitely,
As you roll around
Inside my body,
Feel each minute movement
As if some deranged troll
Was chiseling away<
Somewhere deep
Within my back.
I’ve fought you now
For over a year,
Taken the prescribed pills
Drank copious amounts
Of water,
And endured multiple
Lithotripsies,
All to no avail.
What will it take
To rid myself of you
Once and for all?
What a wonderful thing to write about!… Just kidding.
I know that all experiences are different, but mine came on suddenly when I couldn't sleep one night and went to the emergency room. I had two kidney stones. One was large and blocking a kidney duct, requiring a stint to push it out of the way and allow my right kidney to drain.
My partner immediately employed her “cure” which consisted of baking a ripe pineapple and then squeezing the juice out of it and adding alum to it. I drank this concoction every morning for about a week before I had my first lithotripsy.
I was told that I had the “right” kind of stones that would respond to lithotripsy. I had one treatment on the right side and came back for another in a week. The urologist was surprised to find the large one gone. So the second lithotripsy was on the smaller one in my left kidney. A week later, lo and behold, the kidney stones were gone and he removed the stint.
Thankfully, the kidney stones have not returned in five years. Gratefully, I never had to experience the pain of passing one. Mine were too large to be passed anyway.
Ron
Reviewed by RWE SAYS BYE (Reader)
Reviewed on August 24, 2013
Sleep must be a sacred thing to those surprised by the "Ode to a Kidney Stone"... I've never been pregnant (obviously!) but they say giving birth is less painful than passing one of those "boulders"... I am moved by the irony here at the end, a kind of desperate bribery-plea... What will it take, indeed? There is a real Sylvia Plath quality to your confessionals, that I like.
Re-Release! No longer back-listed. Return to the Olde Ways. The hustle and bustle of modern day life has brought many of us to a quick fix attitude.This book is for those of you who are fed up; have looked at your life and your loved ones and realize
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budd
I hope they sonically zap them ASAP!
Great poetry that is here and now before your eyes. Prolly before your eyes start watering.
I know that all experiences are different, but mine came on suddenly when I couldn't sleep one night and went to the emergency room. I had two kidney stones. One was large and blocking a kidney duct, requiring a stint to push it out of the way and allow my right kidney to drain.
My partner immediately employed her “cure” which consisted of baking a ripe pineapple and then squeezing the juice out of it and adding alum to it. I drank this concoction every morning for about a week before I had my first lithotripsy.
I was told that I had the “right” kind of stones that would respond to lithotripsy. I had one treatment on the right side and came back for another in a week. The urologist was surprised to find the large one gone. So the second lithotripsy was on the smaller one in my left kidney. A week later, lo and behold, the kidney stones were gone and he removed the stint.
Thankfully, the kidney stones have not returned in five years. Gratefully, I never had to experience the pain of passing one. Mine were too large to be passed anyway.
Ron